


World of Yggdrasil

by qikiqtarjuaq



Category: Thor (2011)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Future, Incest, M/M, World of Warcraft - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-07-04
Updated: 2012-07-11
Packaged: 2017-11-09 03:57:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/450992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qikiqtarjuaq/pseuds/qikiqtarjuaq
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for <a href="http://norsekink.livejournal.com/9985.html?thread=20578049#t20578049">this</a> kinkmeme prompt asking for Loki, Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three as MMO gamers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Dragon Soul

Loki stood next to the ominous glowing portal and went down his mental preparation checklist one last time. 

Fraps, his trusty floating holorecorder set to livestream his adventures? Check.  
Fire resist gear? Check.  
Elemental resistance aura? Check.  
Improved Shroud of Invisibility? Check.  
Flasks, potions and traps? Check.

He turned towards Fraps and grinned. "... and action!"

He walked into the portal and the world around him shimmered until it took the shape of a giant cavern. Immediately, he was struck by the acrid smell of smoke and a massive wave of heat. Fafnir had a well-deserved reputation as the most difficulty dungeon designer in the World of Yggdrasil community, making him both loved and reviled by the playerbase. Loki personally wasn't a fan. The man was a one-trick pony who lacked even the slightest touch of subtlety. If you could pass the gear check and dodge the fire (or poison or ice or whatever struck Fafnir's fancy), you beat the dungeon. So as Loki predicted, the first challenge to Fafnir's latest masterpiece would be acquiring maximum fire resistance gear. 

As he wiped the sweat from his face, Loki cursed Thor for the millionth time for talking him into rolling a Hardcore difficulty toon. Most players who weren't his insane brother rightly chose the Normal difficulty, where virtual environmental damage had no physical effects on the players themselves. Hardcore players however, were hooked up to special sensory contraptions that conveyed every bit of discomfort and pain to the real world as well. It was still imaginary, of course, and any pain inflicted would be toned down to manageable levels for the player's protection. Loki thankfully was not sweating onto his designer-brand gaming chair in real life, though his brain had been tricked into thinking so. Every controller device also had a fail-safe that disabled sensory output before actual character death occurs. Still, every once in awhile, stories would float around about a Hardcore player whose mind simply shut down in response to a particularly gruesome in-game death. Tempest Entertainment would always deny the news with a neutrally-worded press release, but they did not actively discourage the rumours. That bit of morbidity was what ultimately gave the best players risking it all the glamour, fame and endorsement deals that was out-of-reach for the average gamer. It was what elevated World of Yggdrasil from just another Virtual Reality MMO to a wildly popular spectator eSport.

Safely hidden within his Improved Shroud of Invisibility, which made him undetectable by both sight and smell, Loki gestured for Fraps to give him his close-up. "Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared for the World First Solo attempt of Dragon Soul! We're already off to a promising start. Fafnir's so worried that I wouldn't break a sweat that he artificially increased the heat levels just for me!"

Loki elevated himself with a Levitation spell to avoid ground traps, and snuck onward past fearsome half-dragon, half-men abominations and packs of poison-spewing dragon whelplings. Some of the corridors were so narrow that he was forced to shapeshift into a snake and slither past the hostile enemies standing guard. Loki knew there would be inevitable criticism of his decision to shapeshift back and forth, consuming valuable mana in the process. Not to mention the flamewars over the best shapeshift choice for the occasion. More than the praise and the money, being able to rile people up was what Loki enjoyed the most by broadcasting his exploits.

At last, he reached the final chamber of the dragon. Still shrouded, he carefully placed traps all around the sleeping beast in strategic places. The claustrophobic design of this dungeon was almost surely intended to incite panic in the player's mind. A panicked player with a giant dragon breathing in his or her face with only the thinnest margins to move would be a panicked player who made a mistake. And in any dungeon of Fafnir's, a single mistake resulted in certain death. Loki, however, quickly saw the potential in taking advantage of the dragon's lack of mobility to lead it into a death trap. 

With a dramatic flourish, Loki removed the Shroud that kept him from detection. Fraps immediately moved to the ceiling where it was provided with an electronic hookup to all the other recording devices in the dungeon as well as a small pocket of immunity afforded to all officially sanctioned holorecorders. 

The dragon sensed its prey and roared. Already, it began to take damage from the various traps that Loki had laid down, making it angrier and angrier as he chased Loki around the room, breathing fire and summoning whelplings. Just when it seemed as though he would be overwhelmed, Loki equipped his Staff of Mind Control and cast it in the direction of the whelpings. The dragon screamed this time as its own minions began attacking it. 

"And now for the grand finale!" announced Loki, as the number of visitors to his livestream finally hit the dramatic number he had hoped for. He turned and ran towards the pillar where he'd placed the Legendary level Immolation Trap. Widely regarded as a useless trap that required its prey to stand in place while taking damage, no one bothered with the cost of crafting one, which meant that Loki had obtained it at a bargain. 

Loki's figure danced playfully around the dragon's snapping jaws, laughing and taunting it. Then the unthinkable: he tripped. Instantly, the dragon's teeth sank into his body. It shook its head and tore at the flesh with glee, spilling intestines and blood all over the floor. A hushed silence fell over the chambers. The dragon looked around, as though it was confused over why its health and position hadn't automatically reset with its victory. Lacking alternate plans, it nipped some more at the tattered corpse in front of it in hopes of making it more dead than it already was. 

By the time the dragon realized that its own health had continued to dip while it stood on the Immolation Trap, it was already too late. 

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE DRAGON SOUL INSTANCE!

"Yess!" Loki promptly shapeshifted from a tiny fly on the wall back to his human form and cheered as the victory message greeted him. He summoned Fraps back to him for a dramatic kill picture and waved to his viewers. "And _that_ is why Mirror Image is the greatest mage talent ever."

BEFORE YOU ENJOY YOUR VICTORY, I HOPE YOU ARE READY TO DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF KILLING THE LAIR'S MASTER.

Loki blinked. Well, that was an unusual follow-up to defeating a dungeon.

YOU HAVE CLEARED THE TRASH PACKS BEFORE KILLING THE BOSS, HAVEN'T YOU?

Fafnir. The man clearly could not take his brand new instance being solo'ed within days of its release and was now unleashing an unscripted revenge. Loki tensed up and prepared for battle as thundering steps approached closer and closer. Now _this_ would actually be a challenge.

What burst forth from the narrow corridor was not a giant pack of dragons or other such creatures, however. Instead, it was Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three. Loki grimaced. He had a feeling that he would prefer being devoured alive by a thousand dragon whelplings rather than face the lecture from that group. At least Thor hadn't brought his friends from his new guild, The Avengers. Loki was thankful for small favours.

"Loki!" Bleeding and burned, Thor stumbled towards his little brother. Loki blinked at the severity of the wounds. Surely not even Thor was idiotic enough to try and attack this place without any fire resist! 

"Thor, you're hurt. What were you thinking?!" Loki temporarily forgot to be annoyed with Thor and immediately began casting healing spells on his brother's wounds. 

Then he was lifted into Thor's arms in a crushing embrace. "Loki. You're alive!"

"We had come to avenge you!" said Sif with a look that promised that he would pay for this later when she was no longer relieved at his status as one of the virtually living.

"Thor, I wouldn't have come if I wasn't promised the pleasure of seeing Loki's defeat. You owe us for this one!" Never one to leave an opening untaken (in more ways than one if Loki were the type to be crude), Fandral was happy to make the obvious joke. 

A thousand sarcastic rejoinders came to mind, but Thor was running his fingers through Loki's hair and gently stroking his back and Loki found himself uncharacteristically lost for words. He should probably say something to defuse this needless sentimental moment before Thor realized how much of a soft spot Loki had for him. Instead, Loki sighed and leaned into the touch because Thor really _was_ very good at this hugging business. It wasn't until Hogun coughed awkwardly that Thor pulled away and Loki finally found his voice. 

"Thor, didn't you have a raid with the Avengers tonight? Something about a radioactive wolf in Midgard?"

"I thought you had been killed!"

"You do realize I wouldn't _actually_ be dead even if I were defeated here, don't you?" 

"We will speak more of this when we are home," replied Thor gruffly, suddenly avoiding eye contact. 

Loki frowned. Unfortunately, when Thor was feeling reticent, there would be nothing to get out of him until they had an in-person conversation. He began to teleport home when Sif tapped him on his shoulders. "Mage portal?"

He sighed and grudgingly cast the portal to Asgard. "I'm not just a walking, talking Bifrost, you know! Next time, you can ask Heimdall for a ride like everyone else."

It wasn't until Loki reached his home on the planet Asgard that he spotted his faithful, hovering holorecorder floating onto his bookshelf and turning itself off. He closed his eyes and groaned. He never turned Fraps off after his kill! The entire world had just seen Thor rush to Loki's rescue, and what should have been Loki's moment of triumph would now be nothing more than a footnote in the story of Thor defeating the toughest dungeon completely undergeared just to avenge his little brother. The media always did prefer stories of noble heroes rather than tricksters. Maybe if he was lucky, there would be a thread or two debating whether he was exploiting the game or whether it was simply creative use of game mechanics.

Loki disconnected himself from the game world and stretched his arms and legs. His own room was dull and grey in comparison to the splendour of Asgard, and he never did like to stay in it for long. Still, Thor was a bit of a traditionalist, and preferred conversations in-person when he could. Loki had the sinking feeling that the lecture he thought he had avoided had simply been postponed.


	2. Loki's #1 Fan

Deception had never come naturally to Thor. Part of it was being raised by his father to value honesty above all else. Grand Chancellor Odin was widely regarded as something of a savior in global politics, bringing integrity and strength to a position long thought to be corrupt and ineffective. Living with daily reminders of his father's accomplishments tended to make any attempt at lying or misbehaviour seem like a direct insult to Odin's legacy. Thor could handle getting punished for his own mistakes, but the thought of shaming his father was too much to bear for his conscience.

 _"Conscience. Con. Science. Do you think that's a coincidence?"_

Thor's lips quirked in amusement as he remembered Loki's earlier attempts at convincing him to join in the mischief.

_"I can't just think of myself, Loki. If I do anything dishonorable, it will tarnish father's reputation as well."_

_"I've done plenty of things that barely even scratched at father's golden reputation."_

_"Well, yes, but it's different for you. I'm the elder son, and I'm expected to be more respectable. The younger son on the other hand--"_

_"No one expects me to take up Odin's mantle or be as accomplished as you are, I know."_

_"Hardly that, Loki. Father expects great things of you once you are more mature. But you are still young! What would be considered irresponsible of me is acceptable for you while everyone still thinks you're an adorable rogue."_

Thor still remembered Loki's face flushing bright red in indignation.

_"I am not adorable!"_

_"And yet: When have you known me to lie, brother?"_

Thor had paid for that remark when all his virtual avatar's outfits mysteriously turned pink the day he was expected to join a holo-conference with high-ranking officials from the Moon settlement as part of his internship. Thor smiled fondly. Back then, the media adored Loki. They applauded his pranks because they livened up otherwise dull political events and because as much as Loki wanted to deny it, he had a charm that made it easy to love him.

As Loki's pranks widened in scope and targets over the years, however, the media's approval quickly disappeared. With that came the waves of snide articles and negative publicity, no doubt aided by Odin's political enemies seeing a vulnerability to exploit. It set Thor's teeth on edge just thinking about it. So he did what any older brother would do: he started to defend Loki against the attacks.

Technically, Thor could argue that he wasn't truly being dishonest. No one in this world loved Loki more than he did, so who else could have a better claim to the moniker of Loki's #1 Fan? With aliases and fanciful avatars running rampant in the virtual world, this was no different than donning a new set of clothing or getting a new haircut in the real world. Besides, every word he wrote was true, so what did it matter if it was done anonymously? He simply wanted the world to see all the good in Loki, just as he did.

Thor looked at the time. Loki would be arriving soon, which meant that he barely had enough time to check in on the discussion forums for his Loki fansite to ensure that everyone was being properly appreciative of his brother's genius. The site, which Thor named "Loki's Palace," was a scaled down replica of a royal palace. Past its ironwrought gates, the site opened up to a lush garden with various statues whose inscriptions contained facts about Loki. Inside the palace, winding hallways led to several neatly compartmentalized rooms: A bedroom with mementos on the wall that opened up to contain more detailed biographical information on Loki, a banquet hall where online members could socialize, a throne room with announcements of the latest news, and finally, a large library where members could engage in more in-depth discussions. Each book represented a separate thread of discussion, with the most popular and active threads constantly moved to the closest shelf to the entrance for readers to peruse.

The first book that greeted Thor was an immense tome with ornate letterings for its title, proclaiming "~Naked~ Pictures of Loki!" 

"Nine hundred pages already?" Thor shook his head. He really could do without being greeted by a book proclaiming his brother's nudity every time he walked into this place. More than once this past week, he had contemplated removing the book from the library, but that would require actually seeing what was being posted to ensure that he was being fair to the posters. And he most certainly had no interest whatsoever in seeing Loki naked, no matter how unlikely it was that the pictures were real. Although the longer this book existed, the more it seemed to be... _taunting_ him.

He quickly moved onto the next book. "Another World First!" was its title. He smiled. Good, he didn't need to be the one to start the discussion after all. He skimmed the first few pages, summoned a pen and added in his own comments to cheer Loki on. 

Thor blinked at the sight of the next book on the new arrivals shelf. It was another new one, and this one had a staggering page count of 127 for something posted within the past hour. Its title immediately filled Thor with dread. 

"Okay, I know this is going to be controversial, but somebody has to say it..." 

Dammit, he had rules in place against stirring up arguments and slandering Loki for a _reason_. He stretched out his hands and summoned Mjolnir (or rather, a representation of his favourite weapon to wield in World of Yggdrasil), which acted as his banhammer on this fansite. Bracing himself for the standard accusations of cheating and exploitation that people liked to hurl at Loki, Thor opened the book and read. Mjolnir fell out of his hand and his jaw dropped open.

> Thor and Loki. They're totally doing it, right?

He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't misreading the message. 

> Oh my God, I didn't want to bring it up, but seriously. Did you see that hug? That is _not_ how you hug a brother. I expected them to make out at the end. Hogun is such a cockblocker.

> The hair stroking was so hot!

>That image of Thor just cradling an exhausted Loki in his muscular arms is turning me on more than it should.

> I'm so glad I'm not alone in this! Thank you OP for making this thread.

> I feel so dirty for agreeing, but... OP, I agree!

> Didn't the Galactic Enquirer run a story awhile ago about how Loki was adopted? So it's not _that_ wrong, is it?

> If this is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Thor slammed the book shut and disconnected on the spot. He nearly fell out of his chair as he was immediately greeted with Loki's face only inches away from his own. 

"So caught up in your own world that you forgot our meeting, brother?" asked Loki, amused.

"I was delayed by something unexpected. I apologize." Thor knew that he sounded unconvincing even to his own ears, and there was likely nothing he could do about the flush that threatened to creep up his neck. 

"And here I thought you were so anxious to lecture me about gaming safety." 

Thor seized immediately at the change of topic. "You can't just risk your life in this game like that! Or did you forget the warnings? If you suffer a particularly gruesome death, you could injure yourself in real life as well!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "Those are nothing but baseless rumours to drum up publicity for Tempest Entertainment."

Thor clenched his fists. He shouldn't be divulging this information, but somehow, he always found himself bending the rules and making exceptions for Loki. "Not exactly."

Loki stopped smiling. "If this game can affect our real selves, need I remind you that you've hardly been the paragon of caution yourself?" 

"Father has only tasked me with investigating the reports yesterday. And I need to keep up the pretense while I gather information."

"Brilliant. Father picked the worst liar in the world for an undercover investigation. I suppose asking the son who actually has some experience at hacking and subterfuge would have been far too logical of a choice."

Thor began to pace. He never knew how to handle it when Loki's anger turned to him. Sometimes, he feared that whatever anger Loki held towards him and their father would eventually tear them apart. "He only wants to protect you, Loki. I want to protect you too."

"And what about what I want?"

Thor frowned. "What _do_ you want, Loki? I thought you were happy not to be burdened with father's politics."

"I want the chance to help protect you too, you idiot. We work better together. We always have."

Thor grinned with relief and swept Loki up in a bear hug. "Then we will investigate this together! Tomorrow, we go to Jotunheim!"


End file.
